Online and offline are two of a kind

Our ‘Social Media around the World’ study showed that online and offline are closely linked to each other. Now that social media adoption has reached the mass market, it is clear that everything that happens offline has an impact on the online conversations.

Offline brand experience is the perfect online conversation starter

Consumers become friends on Facebook becomes they know each other in the real world. People start to follow brands after they have used the specific product. 46% starts to follow a brand after they used the product. This real life experience is more important than any other communication form by the brand.

Further, offline shopping experiences are the main driver for online conversations. A few months ago, InSites Consulting made an analysis of branded conversations on Facebook fan pages. The key conclusion was that what happens in the point of sales is the main topic of online conversations.

Defriending: yes, but because of offline facts

Defriending is a trend. Our study showed that more than half of the social network users already unfollowed or defriended someone. Their main reason was lack of offline contact. Other reasons to defriend are privacy concerns and not being a real friend anymore. Bad content is less important in the defriending process than the real life relationship.

Online & offline are two of a kind

If we look at all data we captured about social media attitude and usage, it is clear that online media are a reflection of the offline world. Still, some brands see it as two different environments. Some even position their online brand differently than offline. These is confusing for consumers. 12% of consumers notices a clear difference between the online and offline brand positioning of certain brands.

It’s one brand in one world.